In a strange series of events, Macromedia pulled a quick strategic u-turn... just as I began writing this article. The original story, titled "Macromedia ditches Pocket PC Flash," began like this:

On the 3rd of October, Macromedia decided to remove Pocket PC Flash Player 6 from their website. This download is what allows Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices to view Flash content within Pocket Internet Explorer.

Why on earth would Macromedia attempt to shrink their Flash install base? It boggles the mind. Or does it.

If you want to entertain your suspicions about what Macromedia is doing with the Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms and whether we'll ever get to see Flash for the PSP, keep reading.

The Pocket PC Flip Flop
The stated reason for removing the download was that certain "noncertified" devices had performance and operational inconsistencies that lead to a support nightmare. I thought this was a little strange considering the free player is provided "as-is" and is generally unsupported outside of user forums. According to the article, "noncertified" means any device not made by HP or Toshiba, who now license the Flash Player and pre-install it on their devices. Hmmm.....

As I was writing this article, Macromedia put the download back online and edited their original notice, adding "We Listened: Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC Is Available Again." Apparantly I wasn't the only unhappy coder.

The Flash plugin has been available for Pocket PC for years. It was ported. It was tested. It was packaged up for download. For a company with a strategic interest in getting their technology on as many platforms as possible -- the reason so many developers code in Flash -- it must have taken something big to force that decision.

Did HP or Toshiba threaten to discontinue licencing the player if it was still freely available? Was Macromedia testing the waters to see if they could force other OEMs to license the technology?

This brings us to a bigger question: where is Flash for the PSP?

The Smartphone Secret
To answer that question, I'd like to tell you a little secret: Flash 6 runs on Smartphones and has for years. You wont find a Smartphone Flash Player on Macromedia's site. You wont find it in the forums.

How do I know Smartphone Flash exists? Because Smartphones have the same fundamental architecture as the Pocket PCs. They are even binary compatible. I'll leave it as an excercise to the reader (I'll write a howto if anyone wants one), but you can actually take a standalone Flash EXE for the Pocket PC, copy it to a Smartphone, and it will run perfectly, albeit with some screen size differences.

So why hasn't Macromedia packaged up the Smartphone Flash Player and expanded their install base to another class of embedded devices? My guess is that they have run the numbers and figured that there is a lot more money to be made on player licences than on additional developer tool sales for embedded devices.

Unless you aren't licencing it.

The reason we don't see Smartphone Flash is probably because there are so many different Smartphone OEMs producing so many different phones. It just makes the licensing game so much more complex. The only way to avoid the nightmare would be for Macromedia to talk Microsoft into licensing and installing Flash in their default build.

Hopefully, that's exactly what will end up happening. I'm actually a little curious why this hasn't happened already. Maybe it has something to do with Flash being such a strong competitor to the MS suite of embedded development tools (which used to be free but are now to be part of Visual Studio proper).

Flash For PSP
So far we've got one finished product that existed for several years and was nearly axed, and we've got another product that has been around just as long and never got to see the light of day. Then there is the Flash Player for the PS2, which was created and used behind the scenes for the interface in games like Star Wars Starfighter.

If you've been paying attention here, you can probably bet that Flash Player for the Playstation Portable already exists in some secret Macromedia closet. The real question is whether Sony will choose to incorporate a browser plugin or standalone player in a future OS upgrade for the PSP.

If you do a little searching, there are a bunch of people speculating what Sony will do here. They make most of their revenue through game, not handheld, sales. This makes it a bit of a risk to release a tool which could potentially cut into that revenue if hordes of indie developers start producing games that run within the PSP browser via a Flash plugin. Perhaps Flash support will only be available to official developers as it was with the PS2.

I hope Sony gets this one right, though.

Free Idea: The PSP Indie SDK and psGames Market
If they are thinking smart, they will not only licence and ship the Flash browser plugin, they will work with Macromedia to develop a first-ever PSP Indie SDK. This would be a cheap Flash-based alternative to the full SDK, and it would be aimed straight at independant game and mobile app developers.

Combine this with a Sony sanctioned marketplace for certifying, selling, and distributing independant titles and you've done for independant game development what the iTunes Music Store did for indie musicians. Developers get an open gaming platform to develop and sell their titles, Macromedia gets a real foothold in the mobile gaming market, and Sony collects royalties on the sales. Win-win-win.

Your Comment Here
Would you like to see Flash available for the PSP, Smartphone or some other embedded device? Would you develop software for that platform if it was available? Is it a pipe dream hoping it will ever happen? Please share your thoughts, analysis, ideas and comments below. I look forward to hearing from you.

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